The biggest problem with Common Core is not the curriculum, but the testing — it sets up Jacksonville students to fail.
Students will fail, not because of lack of knowledge, but because of lack of computer and keyboarding skills.
Many students are excellent writers and Common Core testing will require students to write at least one essay or narrative. With pencil and paper students can focus on being creative and making sure of the facts, but on the computer, the focus moves from content to where the letters are on the keyboard or how to indent a paragraph.
Now this may not be true everywhere, but students in Pulaski County Special School District are not taught keyboarding. It’s simply not required.
So students go in at a disadvantage. Not knowing basic keyboarding skills can cause frustration and students could shut down or just type in anything to be done with it.
A student must be able to type 20 words a minute fluently to “write” on the computer faster than they do with a pencil. Test your child. If they can’t do that as a minimum there is a chance they will fail or at least score much lower than their ability on the language arts portion of the test.
Yes, computers are the wave of the future. Walt Disney recognized that 40 years ago, but one must be trained to operate in that wave. And scoring high on Minecraft or New Jack City isn’t keyboarding training.
The typewriter has gone the way of the dodo bird, but not keyboarding. It’s more important as ever as Common Core essays are graded on spelling, mechanics and sentence structure – as well as content and style –but spelling, mechanics and sentences go downhill without keyboard training.
Lts knot set up r children 4 failere. — Rick Kron
